Nothing has greater influence on the well being of horses & livestock than water intake.

Maximizing water intake year round should be a primary goal in the management of all animals, especially horses and livestock. One of the most crucial elements to maximizing water intake is to ensure your animals have access to fresh, clean water they want to drink!

Healthy animals need clean water!

Water intake affects every part of an animal’s system including, but not limited to: sight, fluid balance, temperature control, exercise tolerance, milk production lubrication of joints, flushing of toxins, saliva, the central nervous system, digestibility of feed, and much more!

No Standing Water

Anyone who’s been around horses and livestock long enough has a story of a rodent or bird falling into the water source and dying, or bird feces routinely contaminating their water.  This causes obvious health hazards to the animals who drink from that water.

 

Stagnant water in ponds, buckets, and water tanks get severely contaminated with algae, which takes a lot of maintenance to keep clean.  Some algae, specifically blue-green, can be toxic to horses. A good rule of thumb is if a natural water source is not fed with flowing water, it’s not suitable for horses to drink. Stagnant water sources can cause many issues, including moonblindness, Leptospirosi, and increased possibility of mosquito-borne illnesses (such as West Nile Virus)

Drinking Post Benefits

The Drinking Post fills with fresh water every time the paddle is pushed. This provides good tasting algae-free water that comes up at the perfect temp all year long (50 F/10 C). Since all the water drains after each use, using the Drinking Post dramatically reduces spread of water-borne illnesses. It also means that contaminants like mosquito eggs won’t make it into your animals’ water, reducing the spread of West Nile virus.

No Electricity

If you are utilizing a bucket, trough, or any type of reservoir with a heater to keep it free of ice in the winter months; heaters are vulnerable to horse play to some degree.

Drinking Post Waterer offers an alternative to this potential safety hazard.

Electric waterers are a constant expense to try and keep animal’s water at the recommended drinking temperature. Water may even become too hot due to a malfunctioning or improperly adjusted water heating device. No electricity means:

  • No expensive electric bill
  • Should you experience a power outage in the winter, your animals will still have uninhibited access to fresh, clean, warm water.
  • No risk of electric shock: A leading industry manufacturer of cattle-trough immersion heaters has issued a recall of products sold as recently as 2009 due to a shock risk.
  • No risk of fire: Fire risk can stem from electric waterers or heating elements with faulty wiring, defective electric equipment, or misuse/abuse by your animals.

Your livestock gets fresh, clean water delivered fresh from the supply line at ~50oF year round.

Barn fires stemming from the use of electricity in automatic waterers and float or submersible heaters are often tragic and unfortunately a reality of life.

As you can see in the following excerpts, many respectable sources advise avoiding the use of electricity when possible and/or practical.

Horse Illustrated

“With a floating trough heater “young” or “mouthy” horses will play with them like bath toys, chewing on them or ultimately flipping them our of the trough and onto the ground. Also, because heat rises, this type of heater does not work well on deeper troughs in extremely cold climates. Ice will still form at the lower depths, keeping the overall temperature colder than ideal.

A short in the system could cause the unit to quit working. Worse, it could electrify the water, creating a shocking effect when your horse tries to take a drink….And of course, make sure electrical cords are well out of reach. If a horse chews through an electrical cord, it may be the last thing he ever chews on!” (November 2000 issue of Horse Illustrated)

Fire Safety In Barns

“Electric water heating coils can pose a problem if they are not attended because once the water has boiled out the coil will continue to heat the bucket, allowing heat to transfer to adjacent materials. In November of 2000, twenty Standardbreds lost their lives in a fire whose cause was believed to be a portable submersible electric water heater… Before you add heat—for whatever reason—please carefully consider if it’s really necessary.”

http://www.firesafetyinbarns.com/

West Nile Virus & Your Water

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As most everyone is aware, one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent mosquito-borne viruses such as West Nile Virus as well as Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis is prevention of mosquitoes themselves.

One of the most effective methods to deter mosquitoes is to eliminate their breeding grounds, which means eliminating standing water wherever possible.

Using traditional watering methods or traditional animal waterers makes this difficult if not impossible. This is where The Drinking Post can help by eliminating 100% of the standing water associated with watering, because there is never any standing water in the bowl when it’s not in use.

There is no cure for West Nile Virus.  Horses that become ill are treated only by supportive measures (control of fever, IV’s, etc.) It may take several months for some equine to recover and even after recovery some will have persistent neurological deficits.

WNV Symptoms

  • Muscle twitching

  • Incoordination

  • Muscle weakness

  • Fever

  • Sleepiness

  • Inability to eat and/or drink

  • Recumbency

  • Seizures

Consider these facts:

WNV does not have any type of geographical preference. It has been spread across the United States and Canada by migrating birds  Today anywhere mosquitoes are present, WNV is a real threat.  It is widespread consensus that prevention remains the best practice to follow.

Drinking Post will provide peace of mind by eliminating the most prevalent breeding source of mosquitoes – standing water.

West Nile Virus equine mortality rates continue to be about 30%.

Drinking-Post-next-to-barn-in-snow

Winter Benefits

Providing livestock quality water during the winter can be challenging in most climates. As in any other season, animals need adequate water intake to maintain health.

Drinking-Post-Automatic-Waterer-Summer-Benefits

Summer Benefits

Water intake can double during the summer months. When a horse is working hard and sweating it can lose 5-10% of its body weight that needs to be replenished.

Easy Installation

No electricity, no cement pad, no problem! Install the Drinking Post anywhere your livestock needs access to fresh water and you have a pressurized water line.

Choose Your Size

Identifying the right size waterer for your specific application is a simple, and we can help. Just tell us your needs and your location.

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